It's election time in BC - although you wouldn't know with all the Federal whoo-ha and shenanigans going on - but it is and it is our civic duty AND priviledge to vote.
There are really two main issues here; 1) Do we like the Gordon Campbell Liberals and the BC they have created? & 2) Are we satisfied with our current electoral system and the resulting representation in Victoria? In many ways it's just one issue - the second one - because even if you DON'T like the GCLBC it's going to be pretty hard to avoid another Liberal majority - and a whopping one at that.
It's hard to say bad things about the Liberals and make it stick. They did pretty much everything they said they would and the economy is doing just great. How much of that is due to or in spite of their policies is up for debate. Just look at the books! All those gleaming numbers! Clean, neat and tidy tallies! Everything glowing with the divine light of righteous right-wing ideology! Who could ask for a more perfect government?
Who was is that said "there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics?"
For example, despite 'lowering taxes' for the middle class I KNOW I pay out more to the government that I used to - ESPECIALLY for HEALTH CARE. My bottom line doesn't gleam quite so brightly as it apparently should. That's just the problem with a government so concerned with how things look on paper... people don't live ON PAPER. Quality of Life cannot be measured. It's something you sense on a gut level. My last job was located in an impoverished area of the city and the life blood of that community - the one hopeful nexus those people could turn to - was one of the schools CLOSED due to Liberal policies. Now those parents are shipping thier kids off to 2 or 3 schools outside of the community. Not that far away, but for parents who don't have cars or, in many cases PHONES, the hardship that creates in an already desperate day-to-day, hand-to-mouth existence is unfathomable. My kids are still a couple of years away from elementary school so I'm not as familiar with the issues there as I might be, but I do know that HEALTH CARE is in a scary state.
That's the real reason for this post. As I write this I am waiting to hear from a dear friend. I am waiting and hoping that when she calls it is to tell me that she will be going to the hospital with her 19 month old daughter who has a far gone case of bacterial pneumonia. I am hoping that she will tell me that THIS TIME she is going because they will be admitting her daughter for care and observation. THIS TIME she will not be spending five or more hours on the 'URGENT' list in the waiting area of EMERGENCY - like she already has three days in the last five. That THIS TIME they WILL NOT SEND HER HOME with a shrug and a pat on the shoulder. I'm hoping that THIS TIME her doctor can pull some strings and get her admitted immediately - with an ambulance ride to get her there. I'm hoping that THIS TIME doesn't require her mother-in-law to escort her with a flotilla of lawyers and threats and media releases. I'm hoping that when she calls it's not to tell me that the outrage that we few feel isn't enough to get a small child with a fever of 104 (day 5) and a DIAGNOSED case of pneumonia who is lethargic and turning blue around the lips ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL, that we need to get MORE PEOPLE AS MAD and AS SCARED as we are so SOMEONE is FORCED TO DO SOMETHING.
Liberal? My Ass! Down here on the ground, life in Gordon Cambel's BC isn't quite so ROSY as he would have us beleive. Some days it's pretty damn desperate. And scary.
